Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus including a web browser for displaying an operation screen provided by a web server.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, it is known that an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC) is connected to a web server on a network and displays, on a web browser included in the information processing apparatus, an operation screen provided by a web application on the web server.
In this case, first, the web browser of the information processing apparatus requests the operation screen from the web application on the web server. Then, the web application responds to the request from the information processing apparatus by transmitting, to the information processing apparatus, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) data for displaying the operation screen on the web browser. The web browser of the information processing apparatus analyzes the received HTML data and displays the operation screen based on the description of the HTML data. Further, if a user inputs an instruction through the operation screen displayed on the web browser, the web browser notifies the web server of the input instruction. Then, the web application on the web server having received the notification performs processing according to the instruction input by the user.
Further, if there is a plurality of such web applications, a method is considered where a web application calls another web application in a remote procedure call (RPC) manner, and the web applications are caused to cooperate. This is a web application cooperation function typified by Web Intents. The use of this function enables a certain web application to directly call another web application. This can improve the convenience of a user.
Further, in recent years, some information processing systems such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP) including a scanner and a printer, a smartphone, and an in-car automotive navigation system also include a web browser.
Further, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-115895, the mounting of a mechanism for performing application cooperation as in Web Intents is also considered. In the mechanism of such application cooperation, a calling source web application can transfer an argument to a calling destination web application to call processing. Specifically, in application cooperation, an argument is transferred from the web content of a calling source web application loaded on a web browser to the web content of a calling destination web application loaded on the web browser. At this time, to transmit argument data to the calling destination web application, the calling source web application loaded on the web browser needs to perform Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) communication.
Incidentally, there are some information processing apparatuses which have a server function in addition to a web browser function, and on which a web application operates. Consequently, it is possible to describe, using web technology, a screen of an application provided by an information processing apparatus. Thus, it is easier to develop an application than an embedded application. Further, if an embedded application is such a web application, it is also easy to access the web application from outside the information processing apparatus.
In an application cooperation function, however, to transfer argument data from a calling source web application to a calling destination web application on a server, it is necessary to transmit the argument data using HTTP communication from JavaScript (registered trademark). Particularly, if a web browser and a web application are present in the same device, the processing cost for the acquisition of argument data is higher than in the case of the cooperation of normal embedded applications.